


Connverse Soulmates Collection

by PopsicleJolt



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Sickfic, Soulmates, Whump, mostly at the last part
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:27:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23068465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PopsicleJolt/pseuds/PopsicleJolt
Summary: Various soulmate AUs involving Steven and Connie.
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Comments: 6
Kudos: 44





	Connverse Soulmates Collection

**Author's Note:**

> According to legend, rumor, and internet stories, you're not supposed to find out the identity of your soulmate until you meet them in-person, or else one or both of you will be cursed with bad luck until you do meet.
> 
> Twelve-year-old Steven had apparently never heard of this rule, and now seventeen-year-old Steven is determined to be with his beloved no matter what it takes.

Ever since the day he laid eyes on her, Steven had always known Connie was his soulmate. When he first saw her in the massive crowd at the parade several years ago and watched her drop a glow bracelet, he went to great efforts trying to find her again, without knowing why.

His suspicions were confirmed when, a year later, Connie posted a photo of herself. A pink star graced her right cheek, identical in size, shape and placement to the blue star on Steven’s cheek that had appeared on his birthday. According to twelve-year-old Steven, Connie had to know about this so that they could marry each other forever!

As seventeen-year-old Steven wearily hoisted Onion off the fridge for the umpteenth time, he groaned at his past self’s impulsiveness. Maybe if he had waited to show Connie his soulmark until they’d met in person, he would be on a date with her instead of staying up all night during a blizzard babysitting his sisters’ friend’s demon child in between bouts of throwing up.

According to urban legends and internet stories, you were not, under any circumstances, supposed to find out your soulmate by name until you met them. Otherwise, one or both of you would be cursed with bad luck until you met. Maybe if Steven hadn’t told Connie about it, then he could’ve just kept it a secret from Connie -then only he would’ve been affected by the curse, and Connie could’ve come over to his house without issue. _I think that’s how it works? Maybe? I don’t know, I just want this to stop!_ But of course, he did tell her over the internet, and was rightfully chewed out and denied his first meeting.

Steven herded Onion into his room, hoping to deal with a sudden bout of nausea without Onion getting in trouble behind his back. _Why did I do that?_ Of course, Connie laughed it off now, but it was quite a big deal at the time. Hopefully he’d be able to deal with this… situation… before either one of them started college so that he could get an apartment and be Connie’s roommate. Connie’s parents had loosened up and Steven had a car, leaving plenty of opportunities for the long-distance couple to attempt to meet up.

_So what am I doing babysitting Onion at eleven PM in the middle of a blizzard while I’m still sick?_

Honestly, this whole month had been an embarrassment from the start. It was almost like a gag reel of cancelled dates that could have easily gone well had some cosmic force not intervened. _It’s all my fault I’m stuck here…_

When had Steven’s first attempt at a date occurred? His fevered head was having difficulty recalling it.

After Steven’s seventeenth birthday had passed, he had decided that he was ready to meet Connie. After all, he was one year away from being a legal adult and he figured that if he wanted to meet Connie before being an adult, now was his chance.

Connie agreed with Steven… But her parents were another story. They may have been far more lenient than they had been when Steven first started chatting with Connie, but they still stood by their rule of “no meeting until you’re an adult”.

By the time Connie had finally managed to convince her parents to let her meet Steven, it was December. Connie was allowed to meet Steven, under one condition: Steven had to visit her, not the other way around. After all, Steven had a car, and none of the adults were willing to deal with the car problems that were so common with cursed soulmates.

Oh. Right. It was a would-be forgettable coffee shop date three weeks ago.

The first date should have been a simple coffee shop date at this one place in Ocean Town. Nice, and simple, and utterly cliche. _There’s no way I can mess up a coffee shop date,_ Steven had thought. He’d been an idiot for even thinking that.

…

Steven took another double-take at the car accident that was blocking the road a few cars in front of him, as well as the line of cars piling up behind him, before sighing and taking out his phone in exasperation. “Looks like I’m gonna be here for a while,” Steven muttered to himself as he started browsing through Tubetube. This car pileup was truly ridiculous to extents that Steven had never seen in a place like Beach City before. He would have to ask why so many people were driving out of Beach City in the first place.

Suddenly, the guy three cars in front of him stepped out of his car and ran to Steven’s car. _Ugh, Ronaldo. What does he want this time? Wait, how does he know I’m here?_

Steven rolled down his window, ignoring how cold it was. “What is it this time?”

“Steven! I think someone here has the soulmates curse!” Ronaldo then began interrogating Steven, who had tried to keep it a secret from Ronaldo because he tended to overshare personal information on his blog. Of course, since Steven wasn’t good at hiding things under pressure, Ronaldo grew suspicious -and then his phone rang at an inconvenient time.

“Steven! I heard that an accident happened thirty minutes ago. Are you okay?”

“No, I’m stuck in traffic. There’s a bad car accident and it hasn’t cleared up for I don’t know how long. I’m not sure I can make it.”

“Aww, that’s a shame. Are you going to make it home at all?”

“I don’t know! Twenty cars are trying to leave Beach City. It’s packed! I don’t even think I can move my car!” Steven sighed. “Seriously, it doesn’t make sense.”

Connie paused. “Oh, yeah, Jeff went to a party earlier tonight.”

_So it is true._

“Wow, Pearl really wasn’t kidding, was she?” Steven said. “This is ridiculous.”

“I know, right?” Connie paused. “Oh, I almost forgot that I have homework! Just call me when you get home safely, okay?”

“I will! Hopefully next week is better…”

Steven hung up and attempted to pull out, but just like he suspected, it was impossible.

“Ugh…”

Ronaldo narrowed his eyes. “It’s you, isn’t it?”

“What? N-no it isn’t! I was talking to my friend and she’s waiting for her boyfriend! Her long-distance boyfriend!”

Judging by Ronaldo’s face, Steven knew that he had yet again failed to tell a convincing lie. “You’re the cursed soulmate! Just like I suspected.”

“Ronaldo-”

“That star on your cheek is a telltale sign that the sneople gave you a predetermined partner. It only confirms my theory. I’ve got to put this on my blog!”

“Please-”

Luckily, someone else noticed what was going on and told Ronaldo to chill. And then yelled at Steven before leaving.

Steven was both relieved and embarrassed at the same time. Of course it would be obvious to an outside observer that something was amiss with this all-too-convenient situation.

Exhausted, Steven leaned back against his carseat. All those late-night essays Steven had written must’ve caught up to him, because next thing he knew his phone was ringing again. He woke up with a snort and hastily picked up his phone.

“What is it, Connie?” Steven sleepily muttered.

“Steven? Are you okay? It’s been an hour and I haven’t heard from you!”

“What? What time is it? *yawn*”

“It’s eight thirty PM!”

“What?” Steven looked around him. The traffic was still bad as ever, but at least there were cops here to deal with it. Beach City didn’t really need cops most of the time, so when an actual problem did show up and it wasn’t an emergency, it took a long time for someone to respond. “Geez, I fell asleep while I was waiting for traffic! But it’s okay, I’m fine, I’ll just have to not do that next time!”

…

Even now, that was an embarrassing memory. Of course, once Steven got home, his family received the whole story, with mixed reactions. Amethyst eagerly teased Steven about his already-embarrassing situation, Pearl freaked out and gave Steven a long-winded lecture on the dangers of falling asleep at the wheel, and Garnet simply told Steven that trying to unite with a soulmate who you already know would not be easy. _Ugh, why did I think that this would ever be easy?_

By the time he’d gotten Onion distracted by a toy umbrella, Steven’s nausea had mostly subsided, so he decided to sit on the couch and watch TV in order to do literally anything other than interact with Onion.

Of course, the only good thing playing on TV right now just had to be the animated Unfamiliar Familiar series. He almost never watched that show without Connie; they did it by having one person set up a video chat so they could watch the show from far away.

Steven briefly considered calling Connie, but he figured that she was either asleep or studying. Ugh. He had an uncharacteristic amount of difficulty focusing on the plot tonight. Maybe it was his nauseous, feverish brain, or maybe it was how the lead character Lisa reminded Steven so much of Connie.

When the commercial break came on, Steven’s head wandered to the next scrapped date.

…

Steven hummed to himself as he packed blankets, snacks and movies for his date with Connie, putting it all into his bag -his new bag, not the cheeseburger backpack that Garnet had insisted he use. At least Steven’s youngest cat crawling into the bag made a cute picture, which Steven would also show to Connie…

As Steven opened the door, he said goodbye to his family.

“Have fun!”

“Remember not to brake if you start sliding over ice!”

“Good luck.”

Not three seconds after Steven walked out the front door, the snow started to pick up -previously, it had been falling softly and gently. But now, it was pretty close to a blizzard -all that was needed was wind and the weather would be unsafe to drive in.

The front door opened again. “Uh, Steven? The snow is really coming down. You sure you wanna drive down to Connie’s place now?”

Ugh… “Amethyst, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay… Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.”

Disgruntled, Steven scoffed and walked to his car. He was going to go curl up in a blanket with Connie and watch movies, and he would not let some silly snowstorm get in his way!

As Steven drove away from his house, he almost got too content watching the snow fall down and wipe away from his windshields.

Suddenly, just as Steven left Beach City, it started to get windy. The sky turned white, and Steven was forced to brake and pull over as it became impossible to see clearly.

“Welp. Looks like I’m sleeping in the car tonight.”

The very least he could do was let Connie know how he messed up again. “Come on, phone… Respond…”

After several rings, Steven received Connie’s voicemail. _Rrrgh! Can’t one thing go right tonight?_

Steven opened his bag and took out the warm red blanket he’d brought for Connie, wrapping it tightly around himself. He took out the snacks that he’d brought for Connie to eat by himself. Marshmallows, mostly… Not exactly a meal, but better than an empty stomach.

_Wow, are uncooked marshmallows always this bland?_

Being stranded in a blizzard had never been so lonely before. To pass the time, Steven quietly sang to himself. Eventually, it was night, and Steven was cold no matter how high the heat was. He slept uneasily, tossing and turning from nightmares.

…

The memory of one specific nightmare made Steven’s stomach churn. A sudden wave of nausea went over him, and Steven found himself doubled over as one hand clutched his stomach and the other went over his mouth.

Steven rushed to the bathroom and puked into the toilet, legs giving out on him in the process.

_This is the last time I babysit for Onion while I’m sick!_

To be fair, it wouldn’t be the first time someone got sick on a cancelled date night...

...

Ever since the blizzard, Steven and Connie had been much, much more careful. They picked a Thursday evening where it was clear, where there was 100% no chance of snow, and they verified that none of the teens in either Beach City or Ocean Town were throwing a party that day.

“I don’t know, this seems just a little too convenient,” Pearl had remarked after Steven delivered the good news.

“It’ll be fine! Whatever bad thing happens, I can handle it.”

“I’m just worried, is all.”

Steven ignored Pearl’s comment. “Look, I really gotta go. Ocean Town is a twenty minute drive away from here and I gotta get there before traffic gets bad again.”

“Okay Steven...!”

Before Steven could open the door, Garnet walked out of the basement. “Steven, I think it would be a good idea to call Connie to tell her you’re heading out.”

What is Garnet getting at…?

Steven decided to listen and call Connie. After about four rings, Connie answered.

“Steven…” Connie’s voice sounded painfully raspy.

“Oh, geez, Connie, are you okay?”

“No, I- I- Hold on!”

Steven heard the sound of running in the background. There was a short pause, then more running.

“Sorry Steven… I’m sick.”

Steven felt hopeful for the first time since the two had met. “I… I could come over and help you feel better. We can watch a movie. I’m pretty sure there’s a limit to how much bad luck can happen at a time?”

Connie paused. “That sounds nice, but… My parents aren’t going to let you in. They don’t want you getting-” Connie audibly retched, before running away from the phone.

When Connie returned a minute later, she was out of breath. “Sorry Steven… If I’m feeling better, can we hang out this weekend?”

“Listen, I’ve got a better plan."

…

Steven had waited until midnight until he was sure everyone in both households would be asleep. Everyone except Connie, who would be waiting in her living room. They would see each other through her window and that would count. Flawless, right? Steven wasn’t exactly sure what to bring for Connie, though, so he didn’t bring anything.

Just as Steven opened the front door, he heard footsteps coming from Amethyst’s room.

“Hey Steve-o, where are you going?” She loudly whispered as she opened the fridge.

“I, um…” Steven blushed. “Bye!” He left and closed the door behind him, not wanting to get interviewed about his sneaky date.

Steven was excited. The weather was nice, no traffic at midnight, Connie’s parents asleep or at work (Connie wasn’t sure)...

Steven happily parked at the curb of the street, walked up to the window in hopes that Connie would’ve seen him from the living room, and…

Connie wasn’t there. “Ugh!” Steven slapped his head. “What now?”

As it turns out, Connie’s dad had caught her and sent her to bed, because of course he did. Yet another example of the curse getting the better of Steven.

To add insult to injury, Steven himself got sick shortly after that -but he hadn’t recognized it as such at the time. Now, it was Saturday, and Connie was all better while Steven had spent the rest of the week trying to work through unbearable fatigue.

…

Ugh… As Steven spat out the last of the acidic taste, he scoffed. _We were this close to meeting, and now I’m the one who’s sick…_

As Steven stood on shaky legs and cleaned himself up, he had the first opportunity to truly take a good look at himself in the mirror. His face was tomato-red, and the rest of his skin was very pale. Sweat beaded on his forehead and soaked his disheveled hair. There were deep bags under his eyes, likely owing to the fact that he’d spent three nights in a row staying up way later than he should be. And looking at himself, he hadn’t really noticed how wobbly he was on two feet until now.

A crash and the sound of broken glass was heard in the other room. _Onion!_

As expected, that demon child was in the hallway… hitting a broken vase with the toy umbrella.

“Onion! Don’t touch that!” Steven ran over to Onion and picked him up, shoving him back in his room without a second thought. His throat hurt so much.

Any hopes that Steven would get to babysit without having to clean up a broken object were dashed.

_Why did I even agree to this?_

…

Steven wasn’t sick. He was fine, just fine! Nothing wrong here…!

So what if Steven was experiencing pangs of nausea and his hands were clammy and his legs were weak… That didn’t matter. Steven had homework to do, and he wasn’t going to let a small fever get in the way of that.

Steven was interrupted by a knocking on the door. “Pearl, what is it?”

“Steven, I need your help. I agreed to babysit Onion for Vidalia, but then I was told out of the blue that Greg’s van broke down! I need to help him fix it before the storm comes. Will you babysit Onion for me?”

“What? I’m only halfway through my essay for Home Ec!”

“But that essay isn’t due until Monday, if I remember correctly.”

“Well, I need to get it done. Maybe if I finish it early enough, I can give Connie a surprise visit and spend the weekend with her.”

Pearl was beginning to get irritated. “Steven, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea. You have a fever, and the storm is expected to arrive in a few hours.”

Steven grumbled. “Can’t Garnet do it? Where is she, anyway?”

“She’s covering for the other yoga teacher. Look, Steven, I have to go help Greg.”

“Ugh, fine. Then I’ll finish my essay at Onion’s house.”

…

It had been six PM, and the snow was really coming down. Within two hours of coming to Onion’s house, Steven had already had to clean Onion’s room (again) and keep him from jumping off a fridge five million times. He thought he could just take the work with him, but his illness gradually grew worse over the hours and he found progress on his essay going slower and slower as his fevered brain failed to stay focused. Surely by now, Pearl would be done fixing Greg’s van -otherwise she wouldn’t have bothered in the first place.

Steven’s phone buzzed. It was Amethyst, who was also out with Vidalia.

“Uhh, Steven, we got a situation here. Long story short, we’re snowed in. You’re gonna have to spend the night.”

“What?”

“Yeah, sorry dude. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Just, hang tight, okay?”

Amethyst hung up, and Steven groaned.

“It’s fine. I can do this. I just gotta survive the night. Not that hard.”

At that point, Onion insisted on showing Steven yet another Steven doll he’d made, with that same mismatched button eye.

“Oh, Onion. That’s a… beautiful doll you- you-” Steven’s belly churned, and his hand flew to his mouth. He narrowly made it to the bathroom.

Of course Onion was throwing darts at the Steven doll when he returned.

At that point, Steven decided to call Pearl.

“Hey Pearl, can you help me babysit Onion?”

“What? I’m Connie! You have the wrong number, Steven!”

“Oh, of course.” Steven moved to hang up but Connie spoke first.

“Are you okay, Steven? You don’t sound good."

“I can’t go home because Amethyst is… Drunk? Sick? Snowed in? I don’t remember. But I’ll be fine! I only threw up once!”

“Oh, Steven, you’re sick… I hope you feel better soon…” Steven heard an unfamiliar voice over the phone. “Oh, my mom wants me to help cook dinner. I gotta go. Feel better soon!”

…

Looking back on earlier that evening, Steven was beginning to grow frustrated with his decisions -and his circumstances.

_Ugh… Of course I’m in no condition to babysit Onion!_

_Oh. It’s the soulmates curse, isn’t it?_

_Of course it is! What am I doing, letting the flu, a demon child and this ridiculous curse from seeing Connie! She’ll make me feel better!_

_I’ve had enough of this._

Steven called Pearl. “Hey Pearl? I’m leaving the house. Too sick to deal with Onion now. Connie’ll take care of me.”

“Steven! You can’t drive in this weather! Try to get Onion to go to bed.”

“I’ve tried. Didn’t work. You need to deal with him.”

“Steven, you’re running a fever. Drink some water and go to sleep. Oh, don’t forget the wet cloth.”

“Pearl! All of this is happening because of the soulmates curse. If I go see Connie, the soulmates curse won’t happen!” Steven’s foggy brain was having difficulty forming sentences. “Let me go to her.”

“No, Steven, you have to-” Steven hung up.

Steven struggled to get his weakened limbs to get up from the couch. He stumbled to the front door, putting on his coat with way more effort than necessary.

The instant Steven put on his winter coat, he felt like he was inside a volcano, so he took it off with even more difficulty and carried it with him to the car.

Driving in a blizzard at night was difficult, to say the least, but manageable. Steven wasn’t sure how he managed to do it without instantly crashing into anything, considering that his hands were weak and the movement of the car made his nausea worse.

“See, ‘m doing fine,” Steven muttered to himself. “I’ll be right there, Connie.”

When Steven felt like throwing up again, he absentmindedly leaned over the open window, breaking his concentration on the road, causing him to crash into a tree.

“Oww…” Steven had banged his head, but he was otherwise just fine.

However, when Steven tried to pull out and get back on the road, the car wouldn’t respond. Whoops.

When Steven went outside to inspect the damage -it’s freezing out here- he found that the front of the car was damaged, and smoke was coming from the back of the car. Even though it was quite serious, Steven was inexplicably amused by the situation. “Oops. Silly Steven, driving in this weather. Pearl was right. Guess I better start walking!”

No matter how boiling Steven felt on the inside, he could not deny that he felt even worse out in this cold weather. Steven’s legs could barely hold his weight as he stumbled through the blizzard, not helped by the heavy wind that threatened to topple him over as it blew snow in his face that made it hard to see. The whiteness of it all was so nauseating. The snow soaked through his hair and clothes, and it felt like his skin was being cut with a knife and his ears would fall off. At least it was easier to breathe in the cold air…

Steven felt the urge to throw up, and the jolt in his muscles was enough to make him fall backwards, hitting his head painfully on the icy snow. Rolling over on his side and letting loose, Steven wondered what he did to deserve this.

_If I hadn’t told Connie all those years ago, I’d be safe and warm at her house!_

_Must… Press… On! Connie will save me. Or maybe Pearl or Garnet will drive me there._

Steven’s jumbled up thoughts were just barely enough to give him the willpower to keep going.

Steven tried to stand on two feet, but he lost his balance and fell over again. He resorted to crawling, as if that would actually help him get to Connie. _Surely I can get there without freezing to death, right?_

As the snow fell harder and Steven got colder, it got increasingly hard to move. He was numb, so numb. His entire body was coated in snow. Steven lost sight of where he was, and only then did he realize how much trouble he’d gotten himself into.

_I screwed up big time, didn’t I?_

_It’s fine, Pearl knows I’m here. She’ll be here… I’ll be fine… Right?_

_Who cares. I gotta keep going if I want to get there before the storm comes. Oh, wait, this is the storm._

Steven used every ounce of willpower and internal heat to move his limbs, but he was getting more tired, cold and sick by the second.

_Of course, she doesn’t know I’m here-here… No one does, not even Connie… Oh man, I’m a dead man, aren’t I?_

Steven darkly chucked as his limbs gave out on him and he collapsed into a freezing, shivering huddle, and even the uncomfortable flames inside him couldn’t keep him warm enough. He started to cry, his tears making his face even colder.

_I'm going to die right here. Pearl knows I’m out here, but she can’t drive in this weather. W-what was I thinking, trying to crawl through this blizzard? I’ve been out of my mind all night! Right, I just wanted to break through the curse and meet Connie… And look where that got me. I was an idiot for thinking I could ever fight fate. I guess the universe really didn’t want us getting together… I’m going to f-freeze, and it’s all… my… fault…_

Steven’s thoughts grew into a muddled ball of sadness as he slowly drifted in and out of consciousness.

Steven was pulled back into reality when a pair of strange lights made its way into Steven’s vision. It stopped, and Steven heard a voice.

“Just as I suspected. Of course he would do this…”

 _Yay! I’m saved! She can take me to Connie!_ All thoughts of despair were quickly replaced by excitement.

Steven tried to call for the mystery woman, but slurred mumbling came out instead. His mouth wouldn’t work. It was almost frozen.

Luckily, the woman heard him over the wind and walked over to him. She was familiar, but Steven wasn’t sure who she was. Everything looked blurry. She reminded him of Connie, except as a middle-aged woman with an air of authority. Her mother, maybe?

“I need to get you inside. Can you walk?”

Steven couldn’t move his limbs enough to stand up. He tried to say something, but once again, it was unintelligible.

“Oh, dear… Connie, help me carry Steven into the backseat.”

_What?_

Steven saw her face in person for the first time, and although he couldn’t quite see clearly, he swore he saw what he knew to be the pink star on her face glow.

…

Steven woke up on a couch in a warm room. He was cold on the outside and hot on the inside, and covered in a blanket. The next room over smelled of food, which made him nauseous and hungry at the same time.

“Wh… Where am I?” Steven’s voice was unbearably dry and raspy, and speaking hurt. “I’m so thirsty…”

Someone ran over to him from the next room. “Steven! You’re awake!”

Steven wasn’t sure how to react.

“Uhh… Can you hear me?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s just, you’re pretty,” Steven absentmindedly said.

Compared to how she looked over video chat, Connie was even more cute in person. The bubblegum-colored star on her cheek was a sign of their love. Her dark, fluffy hair, and her wide brown eyes...

Connie blushed. “Yeah, you’re so different… Are you okay?”

Steven was still a little loopy, but his focus returned to why he was here in the first place. “No, m’ not fine. I’m sorry I made us have bad luck. If I hadn’t, your mom wouldn’t have driven through a snow... storm."

“No, Steven, it’s okay.” Connie’s face turned to worry as her hand touched Steven’s shoulder. “You really scared me back there. You were so cold when we found you. You could’ve died.”

“You’re right. I’m an idiot for putting myself in danger. The last time I babysit with a fever…!”

“Steven, you’re really sick. Here, let me get you something to drink.”

Connie left, and returned with a water bottle. She helped Steven slowly take sips from it, and fortunately, he was able to hold it down.

Steven’s brain was less foggy due to the water, and only now did it occur to him that this situation was utterly ridiculous. “Oh geez, I really am out of it… I’m sorry for that. Why did I do that?”

Connie laughed. “You’re dehydrated and you have a fever. Of course you weren’t in your right mind.”

“Yeah… I’m sorry I made you go out and save me in this weather.”

“No, you don’t have to be sorry. It’s really sweet that you wanted to meet me. And now, you’re finally here with me.”

“Yeah. I’m glad that’s finally over with.”

Steven may have been more sick than he’s ever been since he was a child, and he may have crashed his car and nearly frozen to death, but it was all worth it if he got to finally be with Connie.


End file.
